It looks like the Pixel 4a will miss out on 5G after all

The Google Pixel 4a will not have 5G connectivity, despite the growing trend towards the fast new mobile data standard, according to a new report.

XDA Developers reports with some certainty that the Pixel 4a will run on the Snapdragon 730 chipset, and which this is a capable processor that’s a considerable upgrade from Snapdragon 670 that powers the Google Pixel 3a, it nonetheless still lacks 5G connectivity.

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This isn’t a massive surprise, seeing as the Google Pixel 4 flagship also lacks 5G support, but it still might be a little disappointing for fans who wanted to make the switch to the new mobile data standard this year.

However, while this specification seems set in stone for one variant of the device (codenamed ‘sunfish’), there are other suspected variants (codenames: ‘redfin’, ‘bramble’) with undefined specifications − so you can still keep your fingers crossed for at least one model in the series to boast 5G.

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This isn’t the first rumour we’ve heard so far about the Pixel 4a, which is expected to be released sometime in May this year. The same source reports that the device is set to have a screen that measures around 5.8-inches, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a rear fingerprint scanner, and one camera sensor on the rear.

The ‘a’ series of Pixel phones first came about last year with the Pixel 3a, and it offers an affordable version of Google’s flagship, with an excellent camera but lower performance and cheaper build quality. This year’s Pixel 4a will be a similarly cut-price spin on the Pixel 4, and that should be good news for budget buyers as we rated its camera performance, design and software very highly.

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However, we do hope that the upcoming handset receives a significant upgrade to the battery capacity, which was underwhelming and even unsatisfactory on its premium counterpart.